Law-Forums.org

[brenn15]

Two days ago a close friend of mine and his father purchased an old jeep that was fairly custom, though the customization wasn't done right, its still custom, lifted, winch, off road tires, ball bearing rims, tow package and such, they spent $5,000.00 his father was driving it home and nearly 6 miles in the engine caught fire, the are filter and cap are destroyed yet it still runs, now his father pulls over and extinguished the fire, but the cops arrest him for a suspended license, so my friend had to go pick up the jeep and drive it home.
on the way home traveling at about 45 MPH the left front tire came off and shot across the other lane, luckily they had a heave duty flat bed trailer behind which some what stabilized them and prevented them from flipping into on coming traffic, my mother had met them out there with new lug nuts for the spare, and almost every other 2 miles down the road they had to stop jack it up and tighten the lug nuts before continuing now neither of the two are very happy about there purchase so the father orders the son to bring the jeep back and ask for the money back, I call a clay county sheriffs officer to escort us to the private sellers house to keep it on record and for safety purposes.
we arrive and knock on the door at about 9:10 - 9:20pm he and his wife answer the door, i have the melted air filter and cap in hand and my friend starts to explain what happened and quote on quote said "that could have been my life and maybe a few more if i was going any faster, i could have died or killed someone" i do not want the jeep, if you are willing i would like to give you the jeep back take my money and go home, an old broken up jeep is not worth mine or anyone else life.
the private seller showing no care at all replied with "I obviously don't want the jeep back, your father and I shook hands on the deal its a fair deal its done" my friend replied with then my father will have to take you to court because this is not right, the private seller ended the conversation by saying "well thats how its going to have to happen" and we left the officer escorted us back home, asked us a few more questions told us to document everything and go to small claims court. By the way this is all in clay county florida, but i am wondering really what are his chances of winning this in the court and if there are any laws preventing people from selling damaged cars.
This is quite the ordeal as you can imagine my friend is 18 years of age and never had to deal with anything of this sort and nearly lost his life all because a vehicle was customized the wrong way and just "looked cool"

[syvwkh]

Your friend will learn a hard lesson.

He can take the seller to small claims court, but he will lose. Any private party vehicle transaction is "as is", and all issues the vehicle had became the buyer's problem once the title was signed and he drove off.

A simple $50-100 investment in having a licensed mechanic check things over would have prevented this.

[dodya]

There is no right to return a vehicle after the sale. Private party car sales are presumed to be "as is" unless seller provides a warranty. Buyer should have had the vehicle inspected prior to purchase.

[sonny]

There is no right to return a vehicle after the sale. Private party car sales are presumed to be "as is" unless seller provides a warranty. Buyer should have had the vehicle inspected prior to purchase.

used car sales aren't special. if there is a written contract, fraud laws apply. no contract -> no fraud claim. you bought it, its yours.

[westbroc90]

chance of winning in court....less than 1%. Chance of collecting if you win, also less than 1%.

Such is as is autos.

[sebastiano]

There is no federal law requiring a car dealer or a person selling a car to take a car back. You don't have 24 hours during which you can change your mind, you don't have three days to reconsider - when you buy a car it becomes your property. Private seller or dealer it does not matter.

There are laws in a few states that make car returns possible in certain situations.

http://www.squidoo.com/car-return

[motega]

In almost all cases when a used vehicle is sold by a private party it is an "as is" transaction. You most likely have no legal recourse. You can try small claims court, good luck with that. Moral of the story, Buyer Be Ware!

[mate]

There is no way to say how this will turn out. The only ones who I can guarantee will make money at this point is the lawyers. The odds are that your friend will not only loose the case but also end up with a big lawyer bill. The laws concerning private sales for the most part protect the seller not the buyer.